What Does Psalm 69:33 Mean in the King James?
For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse binds hearing to dignity: need and confinement do not make a person invisible or contemptible to the LORD.
THE MEANING
The LORD hears you in need and does not look on you with contempt when you are confined. Poverty and restraint do not erase your place in the LORD’s regard now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that poverty or confinement makes you beneath notice, or deserving of contempt, is undone here.
THE ROOT
שָׁמַע
shamaʿ hear or
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
To hear, listen, or heed.
“heareth” in this verse is shamaʿ hear or. This root can carry the sense of hearing that responds, as in שְׁמַע (shemaʿ, hear and respond). The verse’s hearing is attentive regard, not merely sound reaching an ear; it reaches even those who are bound.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: An imperative to hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
It shows the root’s reach beyond receiving sound toward attentive response.
shomeaʿ: A person who hears or listens.
שֹׁמֵעַ
It makes hearing an active posture of attention, the posture the verse attributes to the LORD.
אֲסִירָיו
asirav his prisoners
GROWS FROM
אסר
ʾ-s-r
To bind or restrain.
The word for prisoners grows from the root for binding: it describes people held in restraint. Calling them “his prisoners” keeps them within the LORD’s regard; their confinement does not turn them into objects of contempt.
ALSO GROWS
asar: To bind or tie up.
אָסַר
It shows the physical restraint beneath the word “prisoners.”
asurim: Those who are bound or held captive.
אֲסוּרִים
It makes confinement a condition they endure, not a measure of their worth.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s attention reaches the needy and bound where contempt would dismiss them.
LORD, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear to hear:The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?THE THREAD
This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.The same Hebrew root שמע (shamaʿ, hear or heed) appears in “heard.” Here the poor man’s cry meets hearing and deliverance, giving the present verse’s assurance a shape: the bound are heard without contempt.
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